Stealing Harper

Brandon walked past me to grab a beer out of the fridge, and I tensed when he came back to hop on the counter next to me. We hadn’t talked in almost a month, but when he didn’t immediately try to hit me, I started to relax a bit.

“What’s going on?”

“Not much,” he said gruffly, and took a long drink. “Think I’m gonna go hide in my room soon. These just aren’t as fun as they used to be.”

“Agreed. I’ll be going to my parents’ in a bit. You going back to Arizona as soon as the year’s over?”

“Nah. Mom bought a house in Carlsbad, she and Jeremy move here in a week.”

“Huh.” My eyebrows shot up. “That’s good then.”

He nodded, and we fell back into an awkward silence. A couple times he’d start to say something before stopping himself. And just as I was about to tell him to spit it out, he shakily asked, “How’s uh—how’re Harper and the baby?”

My chest tightened, and guilt ate away at me. Every time I thought of them, I couldn’t help but smile—a fact Brian, Jeff, and Trish teased me about relentlessly. But with Brandon, I just had the need to apologize. “They’re really good. Look man, I’m—”

“Don’t apologize.” He drained his beer and hopped off the counter, turning slightly to look at me. “I—I hate what you did. To be honest, I don’t think I’ll ever get over it, but I . . .” He trailed off and took a deep breath before looking me in the eye. “I forgive you. I know you love her, and I know she loved us both. All I want is for her to be happy. And if she’s happy with you, then that’s all I need.”

I stared at him for a long time, trying to figure out exactly what to say. But nothing seemed right. When he started to turn away, I called out, “Thank you, brother. That means a lot.”

With a hard nod, he turned and made his way toward the hall his room was on. I was still sitting there dumbfounded when someone gently punched my arm. Looking to my right, I saw Trish, and my head jerked back, “Hey, dude.”

“Cool that I’m here? Didn’t feel like being alone while Erin was gone tonight.”

“Yeah, sure. Parties are always open to anyone.”

She looked around before asking, “Where’s Harper?”

“At my parents’. She didn’t think she should be here since she’s pregnant. Sorry, I know you just got here, but I wanna get back to her so I’m gonna leave in an hour or so. Can I get you a drink, though?”

“Nah, I’m good. Can I just have a sip of your water?”

I handed it over without a word and turned when loud cheers came from the dining room. Keg stands. Seriously? Can’t they do that shit outside? Trish handed my water back to me, and I took a long drink.

“So hey”—she nudged my arm—“I was wanting another tat. You gonna do this one, too?”

“Sure, sure. What are you wanting?”

“Some lyrics from a song, right under my left boob.”

Aw hell. Harper’s gonna flip. “Uh, all right. We’ll see.” I drained my water and showed her the empty bottle. “I’m gonna get another one, you sure you don’t want one?”

She eyed the empty bottle, and her eyes flashed over to mine. “Yeah sure, I guess I’m thirstier than I realized.”

“YOU SKANK! HE’S having a baby!”

I worked at opening my eyes, but my lids felt heavy. Too heavy. And my head was pounding like I had a wicked hangover. What the hell? I didn’t even drink last night. Did I?

“Can you please give us some time alone?” a husky, feminine voice asked.

“Get out of his bed! Konrad, let me go, I’m gonna kill her! Chase, you asshole, wake the fuck up!”

The fuck? I felt something tighten around my waist. Harper? Still trying to force my eyes open, I turned and had barely cracked them open when I saw her.

Not Harper.

Holy shit.

My eyes widened, and I scrambled away from Trish, my head pounding in protest, and I grabbed it as Bree started screaming again. “What the fuck is going on?” I yelled, and forced my eyes open again to look around. I was in my bed, in my house. Konrad looked like he wanted to kill me as he held a bucking Breanna to his chest.

“Chase, make them leave please.” Trish moaned and wrapped an arm around my waist, and I pushed her away.

“What the fuck are you doing in my bed?” I looked around wildly. “Where’s Harper? Oh my God, what the hell happened?” I groaned and gripped my head again as I struggled to get out from under the comforter and off the bed. I tripped out of the comforter and landed hard on the floor; when I looked down, I saw I was only in my boxers. Glancing up as Trish rushed out of the bed and over to me, I saw she was wearing my favorite shirt and underwear. Nothing else.

Oh God, no. No, no, no.

“Baby, are you all right?” Trish asked as she squatted in front of me. Her arm reached out toward me, and I smacked it away.

“The fuck, Trish! What are you doing in my bed? Why are you wearing my shirt?”

“I’ll kill you, you evil bitch!” Bree screeched and bucked harder against Konrad.

It felt like my skull was being split and I groaned as I tried to hold it together, like that would somehow stop the pain. “Harper, oh God, Harper. What happened? What did I do?”

I tried to remember going to bed with Trish . . . I tried to remember going to bed period. I can’t remember anything past—another shooting pain went through my head as I tried to stand—Shit, I can’t even remember my last solid memory of last night!

“Chase—” Trish reached out for me when I stumbled into my desk, and again I smacked her arms away.

“Do. Not. Touch me.” I glared at her, and my breathing became rougher. How could I have done something like this to Princess? “What. The hell. Happened?” When she didn’t respond right away, I yelled, “Why the fuck were you in my bed?”

“How can you do this to me, Chase? You’re going to pretend like I mean nothing to you just because your sister caught us?”

I turned to see my sister sobbing; Konrad’s nostrils were flaring as he held her tight and continued to shoot daggers my way.

“You bitch!” Breanna cried, and wiped angrily at her eyes as she looked back up at Trish. “Tell him the truth! Tell him!”

My eyes widened, and I turned to Trish while still cradling my head and trying to steady my breathing, so I wouldn’t vomit everywhere. “What, Trish? What’s the truth?”

She shook her head and shrugged. “Your sister’s psychotic. I don’t know what she’s even talking about.”

Before I could say anything about that, Konrad beat me to it, “You fucking whore! Say another word about her, and I swear to God, I will forget about all my views on hitting a woman. Tell him that Harper was here! That she’s the one that found you two!”

I dropped to my knees and started dry heaving. Oh God. Harper was here. She was the one that found us. Oh my God, what have I done?

“The sooner that little slut found out, the better. She was ruining Chase’s life!”

“Get out!” I yelled between heaves. “Get the fuck out of my house!”

“Chase—” Trish began again, but I cut her off.

“Get. Out!”

After another minute, the door to my room shut, and the only sound were Bree’s sobs and her repetitive words. “How could you, Chase?”

I couldn’t have. I wouldn’t have done that to Harper.

“Where’s Harper?” I groaned as I shakily got to my feet and began grabbing at my discarded clothes. “Breanna, please, where is Harper?”

“She left with Brandon.”

All the air left my lungs at Konrad’s words, and I tripped trying to get into my shorts. Slowly, I lifted my head ’til I was looking at them. “W-what?”

“She was crying and going to leave, so Brandon took her away from here. And you should be damn thankful for that. I want to beat the shit out of you right now, but Brandon looked like he was ready to kill you.”

“Chase,” Bree cried. “Why? How? How could you do this to her? I thought you loved her.”

I dressed and looked for my phone. As soon as I found it, I tried calling Harper twice, but it went straight to voice mail. “I wouldn’t,” I finally responded. “Bree, I wouldn’t. I love her, and I would never have done anything like this to her.”

“Then why—”

“I don’t know, Breanna! I don’t remember anything after—anything after—damn it! I don’t remember what happened last night!” I don’t even remember fucking drinking! I tried Harper’s cell again and patted my pockets until I found my keys. “You said Brandon took her? Did he take her to the house?”

Konrad shook his head. “Harper said she couldn’t face your parents. I don’t know where they went.”

“I have to go find her.”

“Chase,” Konrad said roughly, as I reached my door. “Don’t do this to her. Don’t lie to her. If you love her, let her go. Don’t pretend like nothing happened.”

“I wouldn’t do this to her!” With that, I stormed out of my room and house. As soon as I was driving, I tried Harper one last time before calling Brandon.

“I warned you,” he growled in way of greeting.

“Please tell me she’s there.”

“I have her, but she needs this time to herself. She’s not in the car with me.”

“Where are you? I need to talk to her!”

“Like I said”—his voice lowered—“she needs to be by herself. Leave her alone.”

“Brandon—”

“I fucking warned you!”

A sob broke through, and I pulled off into a nearby parking lot, threw my truck into park, and hunched in on myself. “I don’t know what happened—”